stnicholasadmin

About stnicholasadmin

Winter Olympics – Feb. 15th

Our Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place tomorrow afternoon. Please ensure that your child is dressed to spend most of the afternoon outside.

Grade 8 Graduation Photos – Feb. 15th

A reminder that Gr. 8 graduation photos will be taken tomorrow, Feb. 15th. Students will need to bring a white button front shirt or blouse with them. Boys are encouraged to bring a tie.

Term 1 Reports – Feb. 15th

Term 1 Reports will be sent home tomorrow.

When completing the response form, you and your child may wish to consider the following questions:

Students:

What is something that you did well this term?

What represents your best work this term?

How do you need to improve this term?

What will you do to improve your work or your effort?

Parents/Guardians:

In what area did you notice your child improve this term?

What did you see your child doing well?

What steps will you take during the next term to help your child?

WANTED – PARENT TO RUN OUR ARDUINO CLUB IN SEPT 2018

The Arduino Programming Club needs someone who can commit an hour each week during lunchtime. Ideally, they will have some basic programming skills although the programs and weekly tasks are already laid out.

The Arduino Programming Club teaches kids the fundamentals of programming. The club fills the void between simple programming languages like “Scratch”, and complex programming languages like Eclipse and Visual Studio. Kids get to program using C/C++ syntax but with some very simple commands, they can turn lights on, make noises and control the boards. The Programming Club uses a customized hardware board with LED lights, a buzzer, buttons and a light sensor to teach these basic programming concepts and with this immediate feedback, kids get to grasp the programming concepts very quickly.

Please contact the office if you are interested.

Baptisms at St. Michael’s Catholic Parish

St. Michael’s Catholic Parish has received an overwhelming interest for the Sacrament of Baptism within the school community for children of all ages.

Baptism is the first Sacrament of seven in the Catholic faith. If you are considering having your child or children Baptized or have any questions regarding the Sacrament, please connect with Mrs. Laughlin at St. Michael’s Catholic Parish (519) 884 – 9311 extension 34 or andrea@stmichaelw.ca for further information.

Ash Wednesday, Valentine’s Day and Shrove Tuesday

You may have noticed on the calendar that Ash Wednesday falls on Feb. 14 this year. This coincidence has not happened for decades.

Ash Wednesday, as the first day of Lent, always take precedence over any other memorial for that day. Ash Wednesday is a universal day of fasting and abstinence from meat – which applies to Catholics from the age of 16-59. This would mean that children in elementary schools are not bound by the law of fasting even though we often encourage them to eat more modestly and to abstain from treats on such days.

As in years past our School Council has organized volunteers who will be making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 13th for students. Consequently, we will be holding our Valentine’s celebrations on February 13th instead, in anticipation of the feast day of St. Valentine.

Junior Kindergarten Registration

Our JK registration will be held on February 7th from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm and from 1:30 – 6:30 pm. Please contact Mrs. Strong to book an appointment.

Grade 8 Transition to Resurrection Evening

On February 8 we are holding our annual transition to Resurrection CSS meeting from 6:30 – 8 pm. Staff from Resurrection will be joining us to answer questions about your son or daughter becoming a Phoenix!

Potato Blitz

Our social justice team is collecting potatoes until February 23rd. Please send your potatoes to the front foyer.

Winter Olympics 2018 St. Nicholas Style

Bell Let’s Talk Week at St. Nicholas – Jan. 29 – Feb. 2, 2018

The Healthy Schools Committee at St. Nicholas has been meeting and gathering information from students, staff and parents to develop an action plan for our school. The results from our information gathering have lead us to develop a plan that focuses on promoting positive mental health. We will be using Bell’s Let’s Talk week as an opportunity to highlight that focus.

During the week classes will be:

Monday – Going for a walk outdoors.

Tuesday – Answering the question – What does positive mental health look like to you?

February FitBit – Five Great Ideas for Healthy Valentine’s Day Celebrations

Why are healthy celebrations important?

Special occasions often include less healthy food and beverages. Celebrating with nutritious food promotes the messages that our children learn about healthy eating in the classroom. Healthy celebrations show kids how to have fun while celebrating special occasions and are an opportunity for children to learn new food skills.

Here are a few ideas to try this Valentine’s Day:

Repurpose the heart-shaped cookie cutter

Create fun and festive heart-shaped sandwiches, fruit, cheese, or cucumbers. For an extra special treat, use different types of heart shaped fruit to make a cupid’s arrow or rainbow themed fruit kebab!

Create pun-tastic fruit valentines

Get ready to peel the love this Valentine’s Day! Send a piece of fruit with a clever tag-line. Try these or make up your own: “You are the apple of my eye”; “Orange you glad we are friends?”; “I’m bananas for you!”; “You are ‘pear-fect’!”; “You’re berry special”; or “You are sweet.”

There are so many fun and healthy ways to celebrate. Check out brightbites.ca for great classroom celebration ideas. Your class or school can even earn a badge and a place in the brightbites Hall of Fame!

Valentine’s Banana Split

Preparation time: 5 minutes Makes: One banana split

Ingredients:

1 small banana

½ cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt

2-3 Strawberries

½ teaspoon cocoa

Directions:

Wash strawberries and pat dry. Cut a ‘V’ in the top of each strawberry to remove the hull, then slice strawberries to resemble hearts (with the ‘V’-shape at the top of each slice).

Cut a banana in half lengthwise and place in a bowl or dish.

Spoon Greek yogurt onto the banana, top with strawberry hearts and sprinkle with cocoa (or sliced almonds, if desired).

Traffic Flow at St. Nicholas CES

Thank you to all the families who have been walking their children to and from school, as well as those that use alternative streets to drop off and pick up their children. Everyone is reminded that you are only to use the school parking lot if you need to come into the school. Please remember that our student safety is a joint responsibility.

With the wintry weather, remember to allow extra time in your morning for those extra layers and potential traffic delays. Our traffic flow map is listed under About Us on our school website.

Welcome back Spirit!

We hope that everyone had a relaxing and joyful holiday season. The staff at St. Nicholas CES has taken the time away from school as an opportunity to recharge their batteries and is looking forward to an exciting and productive winter.

Good luck to our Intermediate Boys’ and Girls’ teams as they embark on their basketball and volleyball seasons.

As we begin the new year, we would remind parents about a few of our guidelines designed to keep all students at St. Nicholas safe:

Parents are asked to park their vehicle on one of the side streets around the school and walk their child(ren) to our property. Use of the front or side parking lots for your convenience can make it unsafe for our students.

Parents and visitors must sign in at the office and display a visitor/volunteer badge before proceeding elsewhere in the school.

Lunches can be dropped off outside the office. Please label the bag.

Are You A Cyber Smart Parent?

Learn tips to help keep your child(ren) safe when online with Detective Sandor Illes, WRPS on Tuesday, January 16th at 6:30 pm.

PA Day – January 26th

May your Christmas be filled with happiness, joy and the love of Christ. Merry Christmas!

Traffic Flow

Thank you to all the families who have been walking their children to and from school, as well as those that use alternative streets to drop off and pick up their children. Everyone is reminded that you are only to use the school parking lot if you need to come into the school. Please remember that our student safety is a joint responsibility.

As the weather gets colder, remember to allow extra time in your morning for those extra layers and potential traffic delays. Our traffic flow map is listed under About Us on our school website.

Winter Weather Update

When we experience wintry weather throughout the year families often have many questions. Considering this we are informing the community of the policy that is followed when deciding to keep students indoors during winter. Students will remain inside when temperatures, including wind chill, are at or below minus 20°C. Otherwise all students will go outside for recesses and lunches. Students must dress for the weather and be prepared to be outside before school, during the two 15-minute recess and the 40-minute lunch break. Please check the weather each day before students are sent to school and ensure that they are coming to school dressed appropriately to go outside every day. We are using the University of Waterloo weather station website for the information needed to decide on indoor or outdoor recesses. (http://weather.uwaterloo.ca/)

In the event of severe weather, please listen to the local radio stations for school closure or bus cancellation information beginning at 6:45 a.m. Announcements are made approximately every quarter hour. Additionally, all cancellation updates can be found on the WCDSB website (www.wcdsb.ca) under the Cancellations tab.

Here are some tips for walking to school in the winter:

Wear a hat…up to 50% of body heat can be lost through your head, so keep it covered;

Walk with smaller steps to improve footing on slippery sidewalk;

Wear mittens…they are warmer than gloves;

Use a lip protector (such as a lip balm) on your lips;

Walk with a buddy…talk about all the great winter scenery.

Escape the Winter Blues!

There are many things you can do to prevent the winter blues from setting in. Eating healthy, being physically active, limiting screen time, and spending time with family and friends help to promote positive mental well-being.

Healthy eating means eating and drinking more:

Vegetables and fruit

Whole grains like brown rice, as well as whole grain breads and cereals

Legumes and lean protein choices

Milk and milk alternatives

Water for thirst

Healthy eating also means limiting ultra-processed foods like:

Sugary or salty snacks

Sweetened beverages

Pre-packaged meals

Food from restaurants

Winter is a great time to cook with children and teach them food skills, share family traditions and spend quality family time together. Having healthy meals together can help families feel more connected. A healthy eating pattern that includes breakfast can also help children do better in school!

For information on healthy eating and nutrition, visit Eat Right Ontario at https://www.eatrightontario.ca and follow this link for tips on Cooking with Kids. Please note that some tips/recipes do involve allergenic foods; Continue to follow your routine precautions and healthcare provider’s advice if you or family members have food allergies.

Public Safety Letter

Junior Christmas Concert

Our Junior (Gr. 4 – 6) Christmas Concert will be held on Tuesday, December 19th at 11 am in our gym.

ESNS / Hot Lunch Orders:

Just a reminder that orders can now be made for January.

The office has received several calls with questions from parents when their child is absent due to illness, field trips or bus cancellation. It may be helpful to review the ESNS policies, listed below. These are also listed on the eons website: http://www.esns.ca/

MISSED LUNCHES

Lunches will only be kept until the end of the serving period. Any lunches that are not collected will be donated, or discarded. Food will not be kept and served the following day, to ensure safety and quality. If your child will be attending a field trip please log into your account and cancel your order. If your child is ill, please contact us at support@esns.ca.

Orders that are cancelled after the orders have been placed with our suppliers will be credited at 50%. Days highlighted in red on the website indicate that these orders have already been placed with our suppliers. ESNS custom software does allow you to edit orders on your account that have not been placed with our suppliers.

SNOW DAY CANCELLATIONS

If the school board has closed the school due to weather conditions all orders will be cancelled and a full refund will be posted to your account.

BUS CANCELLATIONS

If buses are cancelled due to weather, all orders will be sent to the school. If you wish to cancel your order as your child will not be attending school, the regular cancellation policy of 50% credit applies.

Traffic Flow

Thank you to all the families who have been walking their children to and from school, as well as those that use alternative streets to drop off and pick up their children. Everyone is reminded that you are only to use the school parking lot if you need to come into the school. Please remember that our student safety is a joint responsibility.

As the weather gets colder, remember to allow extra time in your morning for those extra layers and potential traffic delays. Our traffic flow map is listed under About Us on our school website.

Winter Weather Update

When we experience wintry weather throughout the year families often have many questions. Considering this we are informing the community of the policy that is followed when deciding to keep students indoors during winter. Students will remain inside when temperatures, including wind chill, are at or below minus 20°C. Otherwise all students will go outside for recesses and lunches. Students must dress for the weather and be prepared to be outside before school, during the two 15-minute recess and the 40-minute lunch break. Please check the weather each day before students are sent to school and ensure that they are coming to school dressed appropriately to go outside every day. We are using the University of Waterloo weather station website for the information needed to decide on indoor or outdoor recesses. (http://weather.uwaterloo.ca/)

In the event of severe weather, please listen to the local radio stations for school closure or bus cancellation information beginning at 6:45 a.m. Announcements are made approximately every quarter hour. Additionally, all cancellation updates can be found on the WCDSB website (www.wcdsb.ca) under the Cancellations tab.

Here are some tips for walking to school in the winter:

Wear a hat…up to 50% of body heat can be lost through your head, so keep it covered;

PA Day – Dec. 8

Mountain of Love

Our annual Mountain of Love campaign has concluded. Thank you to everyone who could assist us. The items are now slowly filtering out to new homes across the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

St. Nicholas Speaker Series

Dr. Daniel Smilek, Jeremy Marty-Dugas & Brandon Ralph will be presenting on: ‘Social media use, gaming and media-multitasking: Should you be concerned?’ Next week on Thursday November 30th at 6:30pm in the library. Details concerning is presentation are available in last week’s update. Babysitting will be offered. Please RSVP at: https://goo.gl/forms/vFn3lMHhwpcQYRXA2

WCDSB Basketball & Volleyball Championships

Congratulations to our Girls Basketball Team and our Boys Volleyball Team who showcased their skills at this week’s respective WCDSB Championships. Out of the 45 elementary schools in our district the boys team finished 3rd and the girls team finished 6th. Placing two teams in the final eight is a great accomplishment. Thanks to Mrs. Beesley, Mr. Patterson, Mr. Freiburger and Mr. Fitzgerald for coaching.

Well done Spirit!

Resurrection CSS Open House

A reminder to parents and students in Gr. 8. Resurrection CSS is holding its Open House on November 29th from 6:30 – 8:30 pm.

First Reconciliation

Mountain of Love

Our annual Mountain of Love campaign has begun. If you have any clean, gently-worn winter coats, mitts, hats, scarves and boots at home, please bring them to school to create our “Mountain of Love.”

St. Nicholas Speaker Series

St. Nicholas School Council will be hosting the first talk in our Social Media, Mental Health and Well-Being Speakers Series on November 30th at 6:30pm in the Learning Commons. The speaker series is funded by a PRO grant and has been in response to parent requests for more information on social media and mental health.

Dr. Daniel Smilek, Jeremy Marty-Dugas & Brandon Ralph will be presenting on: Social media use, gaming and media-multitasking: Should you be concerned?

Social media use, gaming, and media multitasking are on the rise and there are growing concerns about the consequences of these behaviors. During our presentation, we will address three interrelated issues. First, we will explore the relation between media use and mental health, as well as the addictive aspects of social media and gaming platforms. Second, because electronic devices are increasingly being used in the classroom and while studying, we will discuss the impact of media-multitasking on learning and memory. Finally, we will explore various practical strategies students, parents and teachers can implement to reduce the negative impact of media-related behaviors in everyday life.

Dr. Daniel Smilek is a professor of psychology at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on understanding how attention and perception operate in everyday situations. Jeremy Marty-Dugas is a PhD student in psychology at the University of Waterloo whose research focuses on the way people experience the spectrum of attentional states focusing on mind-wandering and the experience of flow. Brandon Ralph is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo whose research focuses on vigilance, mind wandering and media multitasking. They all work in Dr Smilek’s Vision and Attention Lab.

WCDSB Basketball & Volleyball Championships

Congratulations to our Girls Basketball Team and our Boys Volleyball Team who have both qualified for post season play. As a result of both teams winning their playoff games this week, they’ve each earned a berth in the WCDSB Championship tournament, as one of the top eight teams in our school board, to be played at RIM Park this week. Go luck to both teams, Girls on Tuesday and Boys on Wednesday. Go Spirit!

Confirmation Parent Meeting

There will be a Confirmation parent meeting at St. Michael’s Church on November 22 at 7 pm.